Gender Agenda newsletter: Action – The Hindu

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, 46, became the first woman to win the Best Cinematography Oscar this year. Only three women before her have been nominated in the category, all after 2018. Before this, no woman had ever shot a movie on IMAX, a large-format film with heavy cameras, expensive to execute.

“I heard a phrase that said you need to see you to be you,” Autumn had told a news agency last year. “I think for us females…the more women are able to shoot on large format, it will inspire the younger girls who maybe don’t think that they can get there.”

Even the most personal actions produce ripples that impact other people. Scientist Bibha Chowdhuri’s family, for instance, encouraged her to study physics, a subject rarely touched by women of the time. It was the enabling atmosphere that helped her become the first Indian woman to obtain a PhD in physics. “In later interviews, she often talked about how very few women were entering physics, and it’s important to encourage more participation to ensure equal decision-making powers when it comes to technology and power in modern society,” says this article.

Then there are those actions that deny women their right in history. In the 1950s, British chemist Rosalind Franklin joined King’s College London. Do read this story about the hijacking of her Photograph 51, and how Rosalind’s work was nullified.

Larger actions have bigger ramifications. This data, shows that “the cost of war outlives the conflict itself”. Conflict is sometimes unavoidable, especially when rights are taken away, but there are still questions to ask ourselves each time we engage in any kind of conflict at home, at work, or in a public space: How do we hope to resolve our fights? How can our fights ripple outward, impacting people positively? We must act, of course, but from what space within us is the action coming from?

Toolkit

“What does it mean for women to be reading Periyar?” says Aishwarya A.V. Raj, on her Instagram handle @aishwarya_avraj. On it, she celebrates over 100 years of the Self-Respect Movement of which ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy was a key leader. She discusses his book translated into English, called Why women got enslaved? and talks about intimate partner violence and of women accepting abuse as a form of love. Periyar has suggested that marriage be based on friendship and commitment, acknowledging a woman’s desire and autonomy.

Wordsworth

One-way monogamy

A term from the documentary on Netflix titled Inside the Manosphere, by filmmaker Louis Theroux. Here, the men want their partners to be sexually exclusive to them, while they have the choice of being with other women. One social media influencer says, “Bitch, we ain’t equal,” and “I’m the dictator; you’re the subordinate”.

Ouch!

The number of women candidates the Congress has selected, out of 92, in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections. Congress leader Shama Mohamed put out a Facebook post saying, “In the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, only one woman was given a ticket out of the 16 persons who contested.” She also asked that leader Rahul Gandhi “help the Congress women of Kerala.”   

Man we met

Kaushik Gupta, 54, has spoken publicly about gender and sexuality since 2003. “Now people seek me out on any matter related to these, but it wasn’t always like this,” says Kaushik, laughing. His work on gender and sexuality rights began after working with a lesbian-bisexual support group. “People thought these were non-issues. They asked, ‘Is this necessary?’” He also says that people tend to associate anyone who speaks for a cause with the same gender or sexual identity as those who are being spoken for. “I had lots of people laugh at me, asking about my identity.”

Now, as a senior advocate at the Calcutta High Court, he is speaking publicly about the proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. He remembers 2013, when the Supreme Court overturned a 2009 Delhi High Court decision, re-criminalising sex between two consenting people of the same sex. “I called for a protest in New Market on Facebook. Hundreds of people showed up. Of course the big celebrations matter, but it’s also the small things that stay with us,” he says.